Everything That Never Was - Marvel's Runaways

xv. familial bond

Blood was pumping through Jules' veins by the time their car got to the end of the red trail. She was ready to do whatever it took to save Alex. Whatever. So when she saw the man holding the gun to Alex's head, she was about ready to throw herself out of the car and at him. If it hadn't been for Molly and Gert on either side of her.

Gert, being the realist, and at the moment pessimist, of the group, decided the state the obvious. "The odds of surviving this confrontation seem increasingly slim."

Jules reached across Molly and to the door handle. "I'll take those odds."

"Wait!" Karolina cried, stopping Jules from opening the door. "They got back in the van and are driving away. Don't get out yet, Jules."

Jules wondered if somehow she could stop the van in front of them. She had just worked on controlling her powers. Maybe she just needed to become one with it? That was what she did with the house and with the paint? Though with Brandon it was more instinct. And the paint didn't go exactly as she planned. A scowl found its way onto Jules' face as she realized she was probably better off not trying.

"Guys," Gert tried to reason with them, "we have no chance!"

"I agree with Jules. We can do this," Nico said, watching the van pull away. "Karolina, go!" Once again, Jules felt a massive amount of respect for her friend. She seemed to be the only one who understood where Jules was coming from. So, Karolina started the car and they once again found themselves on the road following the car that had Alex.

Then, they came to a red light.

Nico made the first move to get out of the car, but Gert, Molly, and even Karolina tried to hold her in. While they were distracted, Jules threw herself out the side door and over Molly. She'd apologize to the young girl later.

Jules knelt down on the ground, placing her palm flat against the pavement. She tried to go through the process she went through at the house. To feel the rock beneath her. To feel the tires touching those rocks. To feel the axel that held them together. To feel it bend and break, so their car could move no more. But it didn't work. When Jules opened her eyes all four wheels of the car were still attached.

"We're running out of time." Jules didn't even hear or see Nico get out of the car until she was standing right in front of her. She watched helplessly as Nico opened the staff and desperately called out commands. "Engine off. Deactivate!" When nothing worked, she turned back toward Jules and the car. They were running out of ideas.

"Let me!" Molly called as she raced out of Karolina's car and toward the car they were trying to stop.

What happened next happened so fast.

The four other teen girls watched with mouths agape as Molly lifted the back of the SUV. A task even a grown man would have a problem with. As the crew tried to drive away, they couldn't because Molly was miraculously holding them in place.

Then everyone was on the street.

"Hey!" The man who was holding Alex captive pointed his gun at all of them, turning toward Molly. "What the hell?"

Jules heard Nico yell out no, but before anyone else could react Karolina shined a bright light in the man's direction, disorienting him. Even Jules herself had to do a double take as it looked like the light was coming from her hands.

"Anyone else got a secret ability that I don't know about?" Jules mumbled to herself. Too bad yours isn't working, her mind retorted.

"Alex, run!" Karolina called out as she maintained the light.

And that's what the boy did, he ran towards his friends. Jules was the first one to greet him with a big hug.

"Don't go making a habit of getting kidnapped, okay?" She told him.

"Trust me, hopefully, this is a one and only."

By the time they parted, Karolina had stopped glowing and Molly had put the car down.

"That was cute," the man said. Anger and frustration were obvious on his face as he kept his gun trained on the teens. "Y'all little kids best stand down."

Jules stepped forward, suddenly her mind was clear and made up. She glanced over at Alex. This man had held one of the few people left in this world captive for over two hours. She stepped forward again, causing a protest from the group behind her, but she wasn't about to back down. See, she knew the man in front of them wasn't going to shoot her. He couldn't. She recognized him now. His name was Darius (FACT CHECK THIS). He used to run in Jeffrey Wilder's crew. She turned back to face him. He had kidnapped Alex to get back at Jules' adoptive father, but he couldn't do that if Alex was dead.

"What do you think you're doing little girl?"

This man had almost taken away what was left of her family, and he wasn't going to get away with it.

"Something my friends probably think is stupid." She stepped one step closer and that was when she heard the bang. But the burning never occurred. Instead, she heard the clatter of metal as it hit the ground in front of her.

She had stopped a moving bullet!

"What the hell?"

Jules smirked at him, suddenly feeling a whole lot more powerful. In an instant, she connected with the gun. The barrel that was still steaming from the shot. The magazine that held the ten bullets still left. The trigger that could do all the damage. And she felt all those parts bend apart in her mind.

"What the hell?" Darius asked again as right in front of him his gun began to dismantle in ways that it shouldn't be able to.

"You mess with one member of our family, you mess with all of us." Jules felt the support of her friends as they stepped out of their surprise-induced daze. She knew she was going to have a lot of explaining to do after this. "And you're going to wish you hadn't."

Going against what Jules had desired, Darius laughed, like the teens in front of him were amusing. They weren't trying to be amusing.

"This is cute," he mused. "But..." His voice trailed off as he pulled another gun from his waistband. "Did you really think I'd come to this so short handed?"

With perfect timing as always, a car door slammed behind them, and who Jules could only assume was Chase came running over.

"Got the whole gang together, huh?"

With a thrust of both of his fist, Chase fired something directly at Darius, blasting him back into the brush.

Jules turned with the rest of her friends towards the newest member of the bizarre crew. Despite her anger, when her gaze met Chase's, she couldn't help her smile. In two steps she was hugging him, thankful that he was there in their time of need. She was grateful when he hugged her back.

"What is happening right now?" Gert asked, looking at our ragtag bunch.

Nico laughed. "I think we're kicking ass." And as Nico and Chase went to high five, the teenage boy shot off his fancy gloves, sending himself flying backward.

If there was one thing that Jules knew for certain it was that the Scooby gang was back together.

If only their happiness could last.

"Nah, nah!" Darius, who had gotten out from the brush and still seemed keen on destroying them, called as he marched toward them angrily. "This ain't how it's about to go down."

Nico raised the staff as if anticipating Darius' next move. "Protect us!" She called out, and as he began to fire at them a shield appeared, preventing any of the bullets from hitting.

"Nico," Jules let out a hysteric laugh. "This is so badass."

The girl smiled but didn't say anything in response.

And when Darius' bullets ran out, he retreated to his car like the coward he was.

"You think you could stop him with a shot of those things?" Alex asked Chase, who just shook his head no.

"I doubt it."

Chase turned towards Jules who suddenly wasn't feeling normal. "What about you, Jules?" He knew her powers, he knew what she was capable of, but Jules' head was pounding and when she turned to respond her vision went blurry. "Are you okay? You look pale?"

That was the last thing she heard that night.